Mexico

In 2017, it announced a commitment to create a positive impact for 1 million Mexican children by 2022 and is currently supporting this ambition through the following activities:

Learning through play in ECD centres

Mexican children spend, on average, 8 hours in ECD centres every day. Practitioners are often not equipped with the right skills or resources to promote children’s holistic development. In partnership with DIF Nacional, the LEGO Foundation is implementing a strategy to promote quality play experiences for children across the 9,300 Centros de Atención Infantil.

Leadership programme

The LEGO Foundation has partnered with Teach for Mexico to help improve the quality of play experiences in ECD centres supported by DIF. This partnership aims to strengthen the current capacity in these centres while at the same time develop a generation of change makers that will champion play and the importance of whole child development.

million children will be reached by 2022

Play Prescriptions

In partnership with the Neuroscience Research Unit of the National Children’s Hospital, the “Play Prescriptions” project aims to encourage caregivers to play with their children at home. A pilot demonstrated that children who played at home with their caregivers had significant improvements in their cognitive, social and language skills. The project seeks to change caregivers’ perception about play and the importance of children’s development during the first years of life.

Play Every Day

In partnership with Sesame Workshop, the “Play Every Day” project aims to shift parent and caregiver perceptions about the educational value of play, encouraging play that contributes to children’s early development and learning outcomes. The goal is to motivate and equip caregivers to support children’s engagement in meaningful learning through play activities.

Innovation Accelerator

As part of the collaboration with the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, the LEGO Foundation has launched a Mexican cluster of the Frontiers of Innovation community, looking for ground-breaking strategies that address the unmet challenges of children and families facing adversity in the country.

Robotics

The LEGO Foundation support two projects involving robotics to promote learning through play in informal learning environments. Together with FIRST LEGO League Jr., robotics and LEGO construction materials are used to introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) concepts to kids ages 6 to 9 and in partnership with DIF and the Ministry of Education in the state of Puebla, robotics workshops are being implemented in select youth centres across the state.

Download program description and 2018 impact targets for Leadership programme, Play Every Day, Play Prescriptions and Learning through Play in ECD centres below.